The state’s biggest soccer game in a generation was moments from kickoff and the line of fans waiting to get in still snaked away from the gate into the night.

Their patience turned out to be a wise investment.

Brian Wright came to play.

“He was, in a lot of ways, Superman out there at times. Just unstoppable,” Vermont coach Jesse Cormier said. “He was not going to be denied tonight and that’s what I love about him — big game player.”

Playing the starring role to perfection, a humble superhero lacking only a cape, Wright ravaged Rider for three goals and an assist to propel the University of Vermont men’s soccer team to a 4-1 NCAA tournament win on Thursday night for a Virtue Field-record crowd of 2,058.

The Catamounts’ first chance to host a tourney game since 1989? It went off without a hitch.

“It’s a thrill, man, it’s a thrill,” Cormier said. “We were all excited all week to see how big it was going to be and how loud it was going to be and (the fans) showed up tonight and they were great. They were a big part of the game — I think the guys wanted to please them, the guys wanted to get them excited.

“I’m telling you, that type of environment is cutting edge. That’s what we want to do. That’s how we want soccer to be represented here in Vermont.”

Vermont (14-6-1) advances to the NCAA second round for the first time since 2007, traveling to face national powerhouse Virginia at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

“I thought the crowd was unbelievable today, amazing atmosphere, especially being my last game here as a senior,” Wright said. “(But) hopefully not done. Keep it going.”

Rider (13-4-3) held the upper hand in the contest through the mid-point of the first half but that changed in the 24th minute.

UVM midfielder Jon Arnar Barddal intercepted a low, cross-field clearance by Rider and charged forward into space. The freshman from Iceland slipped a ball across the top of the box to Wright and the senior striker cut back to his left to rip a shot into the top left corner.

“We were looking at it maybe being almost a matter of time before we scored, but we never got in behind them,” Rider coach Charlie Inverso said. “To be honest, that’s something we’re really not good at. So their game plan was good.”

Like that, the Broncs’ precision passing game was thrown into disarray.

“They are a very good team, they really knock the ball around, their tempo is high, their IQ is really high, and that goal Brian scored against the run a little bit was phenomenal, just fantastic,” Cormier said.

“Then they started to push numbers forward and we got that second and the third,” Cormier said.

Bernard Yeboah nearly doubled the margin 30 seconds after Wright opened the scoring when the duo combined in a slick series of one-touch passing but Yeboah’s blast on the volley became one of Ryan Baird’s 12 saves.

A second Rider turnover sprang the Catamounts for their second tally, 2:22 shy of halftime, as Charlie DeFeo cut out a pass in the UVM half and threaded a ball up the middle.

Wright, timing his run, rushed past the last defender, touched around Baird 30 yards from goal and dribbled the rest of the way before nudging the ball over the goal line from close range.

“I just thought we did well. Our team, we talked about people doing their roles and our teammates found the people who we needed to find well,” Wright said.

Another quick-strike cued the Catamounts’ third goal in the 71st minute. Loftur Eriksson won the ball deep in the hosts’ defensive third and sent an outlet to Wright up the left wing. Wright beat two defenders to get into the box, baited Baird off his line and teed up Stefan Lamanna for an easy finish with a pass across the box.

“They have the guys that can convert those kind of chances,” Inverso said. “Bang — that’s it, that’s soccer.”

Arthur Hepreck’s header got the Broncs on the board with 1:56 to play. It was the only ball to beat Aron Runarrson (seven saves), whose defense rarely let the Rider attackers into space behind them.

But Wright covered the visitors’ only marker with a right-footed finish to the Catamounts’ final counter — UVM outshot Rider 22-18 — with 14 seconds left on the clock.

The hat trick-clincher gave the senior from Ontario the program record for points in a season (39), passing John Koerner’s 1975 mark. Wright has 14 goals and 11 assists this fall.

“To score a hat trick in an NCAA game … I had dreamed about that type of thing and he does it,” said Cormier, No. 7 all-time in the UVM goal-scoring chart.

“But to be honest, he’s had a couple of injuries he’s been working through. We started to see that this week in training and the grumbling started to happen in the locker room and on the training pitch that, ‘Oh, I think he’s back,’” Cormier said. “He showed that he was back tonight — probably even better.”

But now seven-time national champion Virginia (10-3-5) looms next for a Vermont squad not short on ambition.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do. Virginia is obviously a historic program,” Cormier said. “They’ve won a lot, so we’ve got to do our work, we’ve got to do our background, we’ve got to study them. But right now we’ll enjoy it for about an hour and then we’ll get moving on the Cavaliers.”